Forgery-preventing means



Dec. 3, 1929. H. A. DWYER FORGERY IREVENTIRG IEANS Filed Feb. 25, 1927 PA! T0 THf ORDER Nsw Yams THE Exes-. 1

my T0 105 ORPZK Of Nrw You BY] fimvmza W Mummy Patented Dec. 3, 1929 nnnonn a. nwrnn, or BALDWIN, mw YORK nonenny-rnnvmme ms Application filed February 25,1991. Serial'llo. 170,804.

This invention relates generally to means for safeguarding cheques and other against the application thereto of signatures.

In the effort to guard against the for cry of bank cheques, safety papers have een developed which are designed to prevent or detect the activities of forgers of the class whose operationsdepend on alterations or erasures and the substitution in part of other matter which will change the amount or some other characteristic of a cheque which bears a real or proper signature. .This't-ype of protection, while affording an effective safeguard against alterations, does not guard against the more daring forger who completel fills in the blank spaces on a cheque inclu ing the forging of a signature. Forgers of this type make a practice of preliminarily obtaining possession of an old cheque signed by the proposed victim, sometimes by abstracting from a letter box in an apartment house an envelope containing the bank record and returned vouchers mailed out to a customer. The possession of these papers yields, of course, all the information needed by the wrongdoer, the bank balance of the customer, together with the serial numbers of his cheques and specimens of his signaare ture. Armed with this information the forger fills out a cheque drawn against the customers bank and traces the customers signature on the blank by superposing the blank over a signed check and holding the cheques against a source of light so that the real signature can be accurately copied on the blank. Forged signatures produced in this way are bafiiing and dilficult to detect because they so closely reproduce the real signatures from which they are traced.

It is a general object of the present inven-.

tion to provide means for preventing the tracing of forged signatures on cheques and other papers.

The invention comprises the use of paper or other material for cheques or the like,

which is opaque or resistant to the transmission of light therethrough either throughout its entire area or in the particular sections or areas to wh1ch names or signatures areto be applied to give validity and effect to the instrument. I

It will be seen that the use of opaque material for the purpose prevents the tracing of signatures and the accomplishing of the particularly deceptive acts of forgery referred to since, if the cheques or other papers are opaque, light cannot be transmited therethrough to enable the signatureto be traced or copied. 4 I

The desired opacity of the material may be procured in various ways. The paper stock from which the cheque is formed maybe of itself sufliciently opaque to effect the desired results. I v

In another form of the invention the material may be rendered opaque by the application of opaque coating material to the back of the check over its whole area or to a restricted portion in register with the section on the face of the cheque which is set aside for signatures. l y

In another form of the invention the material may,be of a composite nature, an opaque sheet of material being interposed between sheets formed of light colored material adapted to receive written matter.

In still another form of the, invention opacity may be obtained by pasting to the back of the blank cheque a section of opaque sheet material.

Other features of the invention will be hereinafter referred to.

In the drawings, in which a number of forms of the invention have been selected for illustration:

Figure lis a face view of a bank cheque embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a rear view of a cheque showing a modified form of'the invention;

Figure 3 'm a view similar to Figure 1 showing another form of the invention;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1" showing still another form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings for a more detailed description of the invention, a bank cheque 10 is shown in Figure 1 and is provided on its face with forms for receiving the name 'of the payee as at 11, the amount as at 12 and 13, and the signature of the maker as at 14. Other standard features of an ordinary bank cheque include a form for the reception of the date as at 15 and the serial number of the customers cheque as at 16.

The purpose of the invention herein is to provide means which will prevent the fraudulent copying or tracing of a signature by placing a blank cheque in superimposed relation to a signature and tracing on the blank a copy of the signature by the aid of light transmitted through the pa ers from a source of light at the rear. In t e practice of my invention this useful result is achieved by providing in the signature portion of the cheque as at 14 an opaque section in the check which prevents the transmission of light therethrough and in consequence prevents the tracing or copying of a signature in the manner re erred to.

I may provide the desired opacity in the check by applying a coating of suitable opaque material to a restricted area on the rear face of the check as at 17 in Figure 1. The opaque area thus produced prevents the transmission of light through the signature receiving area of the cheque and thereby prevents the tracing or copying of a signature. The opaque coating material may consist of any desired substance suitable for the purpose such as a substantial application of printers ink or other material containing carbon particles or other substanceswhich prevent the transmission of light through the area coated thereby. I

The desired opacity ma alsobe produced by applying to the rear zace of the cheque or other instrument a section of opaque sheet material such as is shown at 18 in Figure 2 of the drawings. The opaque section 18 may be attached to the rear face of the cheque through the use of adhesive or the like.

Still another form of the invention is shown in Figure 3 of the drawings. In this modification, the cheque 19 has a composite structure made up of a face section 20 and a rear section 21 between which is placed an intermediate section 22 of any desired opaque sheet material. It will be clear that the forward and rearward layers 20 and 21 are formed of paper stock or the like having a desired lightness of color and adapted to receive written signatures or other desired inscriptions. The opaque intermediate section 22 of the composite structureshown in Figure 3 wholly prevents the transmission of light through the cheque so that the cheque is throughout its entire area protected against the tracing of the signature or other matter throu h the aid of transmitted light.

In igure' lof the drawings, there is shown still another form of the invention in which the cheque 23 has a face section 24 formed of light material and a rear section or face formed of opaque stock which may be of any desired color and preferably of a light shade or color such as will display endorsements or the like to good advantage.

' It will be seen that in the various forms of the invention shown in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive an opaque section is provided in each cheque or instrument in register with the signature receiving portion of the paper so that in each case the paper is protected against the fraudulent tracing or copying of signatures by the use of light transmitted through a paper bearing a real signature and the form or blank on which the forger reproduces the writing of the original. The production of an opaque condition in the cheque may extend throughout the whole area of the cheque or be restricted to a relatively small section such as will include only the signature bearing portion of the check, as in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings.

While I have particularly referred to the protection of bank cheques against the wrongful tracing of signatures thereon, it will be clear that the invention is adapted for use with papers of any nature in connection with which signatures are aflixed to form a validation of the instrument.

What I claim is:

1. As a new article of manufacture a check blank permeable to light having on its face spaces marked for the entry of the date, the name of the payee and the amount and an area thereunder adapted to receive the sig nature of the maker of the check and having described.

HAROLD A. DWYER. 

